The Ghost's Child

{{Short description|2007 novel by Australian writer Sonya Hartnett}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox book| | name = The Ghost's Child | title_orig = | translator = | image = File:The_Ghost's_Child.jpg | caption = | author = [[Sonya Hartnett]] | cover_artist = | country = Australia | language = [[English language|English]] | series = | genre = Fiction | publisher = [[Penguin Books]] | release_date = 2007 | media_type = Print | pages = 178 pp | isbn = 9780670029457 | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}

'''''The Ghost's Child''''' (2007) is a fantasy novel by Australian writer [[Sonya Hartnett]]. The novel was originally published in the Australia by [[Penguin Books]].<ref>{{cite web |title=''The Ghost's Child'' by Sonya Hartnett (Penguin 2007) |publisher=National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3886019 |access-date=7 October 2024}}</ref>

==Abstract== Returning home one day elderly Matilda finds a young boy sitting in her lounge room. At first a little wary of him, after he declares "I have bad news for her" she engages him in conversation and slowly begins to tell him the story of her life.

==Publishing history== Following the book's initial publication by [[Penguin Books]] in 2007 it was subsequently reprinted as follows:

* Walker Books, UK, 2008<ref>{{cite web|title= ''The Ghost's Child'' by Sonya Hartnett (Walker Books)|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4397439 |access-date= 7 October 2024}}</ref> * Candlewick Press, USA, 2008<ref name="Austlit">{{cite web|title= ''The Ghost's Child'' by Sonya Hartnett |publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C625694|access-date= 7 October 2024}}</ref>

The novel was translated into Swedish in 2008<ref name="Austlit" /> and Penguin Books released a paperback version of the book in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title= ''The Ghost's Child'' by Sonya Hartnett (Penguin 2009)|publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4593802|access-date= 7 October 2024}}</ref>

==Critical reception== Writing in ''Australian Book Review'' Rebecca Starford called the book "part fable, part love story" and noted that Hartnett's "tales brim with nuance and, though straightforward, are disarmingly sophisticated; her weighty symbolism, saturating the most desiccated of landscapes, is one of the finest in our national literature. In an attempt to catalogue her original voice, Hartnett has often been classified as a children’s or young adult fiction writer, categories that she has resisted, often vehemently, for many years. Although her novels continue to adopt child and teenage perspectives, her literary preoccupations span all ages."<ref>{{cite web|title="Ghost's roads, ghost's lives by Rebecca Starford" |publisher= Australian Book Review, October 2007|url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2007/296-october-2007-no-295/9059-rebecca-starford-reviews-the-ghost-s-child-by-sonya-hartnett|access-date= 7 October 2024}}</ref>

Victoria Flanagan at ''The Conversation'' called the book "a whimsical and poignant modern fairy tale that celebrates feminine experience and strength", and "a tender meditation on the life choices and experiences that mould and influence the people we eventually become."<ref>{{cite web|title=The case for The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett |publisher= The Conversation, 26 March 2014|url=https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-the-ghosts-child-by-sonya-hartnett-24055|access-date= 7 October 2024}}</ref> ==Awards== * [[Children's Book Council of Australia|CBCA]] [[Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers|Children's Book of the Year Award for Older Readers]], 2008, winner<ref>{{cite web|title="CBCA – Winners 2008" |publisher= CBCA|url=https://www.cbca.org.au/winners-2008|access-date= 7 October 2024}}</ref>

==See also== * [[2007 in Australian literature]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost's Child, The}} [[Category:2007 Australian novels]] [[Category:2007 English-language novels]] [[Category:Novels by Sonya Hartnett]] [[Category:Australian young adult novels]] [[Category:CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award–winning works]]